This week, Virginia host what is arguably one of the most grueling races run, the two mile turf marathon, in this week\u2019s Shy F. Challenge. The two mile course is rated as firm, and the race carries a purse of $50000 to split between this field. The race is for all horses four years and older, and has drawn a short field of five, and they seem relatively well matched. The oddsmakers seem to think so as well, assigning a 9\/5 favorite, and a longshot that goes off a a mere 5\/1 odds. With those kind of odds, this could be anyone\u2019s race. <\/P>
PP 1) Revelation II <\/B> Sired by Kingmambo, Trained by oscar. Revelation II is one of the premier long turfers in the world, bringing a rank of number 9 in the long turf division to the table here. This is his forty fifth career start, he has seven stakes victories, including three at graded level. He won this race last year by nearly six lengths over the likes of Evil Yes Evil. Over his last ten starts, he has run to a 6-1-1-0-0 record, breaking the 100 speed mark three times. <\/B>His last start was an open allowance in Alabama at thirteen furlongs, where he bested a full field of competitors by three lengths. Turf has been his home for the bulk of his career. His dirt speeds were comparable to his turf speeds at the time, but he has made his name on turf. Nine of his fourteen career victories have come at twelve furlongs and beyond, with four of those, including his career best, coming at this distance. He can close from midpack, but his best recent efforts have come as a stalker. He\u2019s not opposed to taking an early lead if the opportunity presents itself. There is a decent amount of early speed here, and he is going to have a battle on his hands in the stretch in this one. <\/P>
PP 2) Cuchulain\u2019s Stand(IRE)<\/B> Sired by High Chaparral(IRE), Trained by jonsnow. Cuchulain\u2019s Stand(IRE) is a lightly raced four year old colt, making his nineteenth career start in this race. He\u2019s performed well at stakes level right up through graded stakes, though he is still seeking his first stakes win. His last ten starts have netted him a 2-1-2-3-0 record, with no 100+ speed runs. He comes off his first career dirt start, a nine furlong allowance in Illinois, where he placed a long out ninth on an off track. Though one off track start isn\u2019t really much to judge by, turf definitely appears to be his preferred surface. This will be his longest start to date by a full four furlongs, and while he has shown some stamina longer, his best range seems to be in about the nine to ten range. He is a deep closer, and his close has been about a 50\/50 proposition recently. In his longer starts, his close has been good, but he has just found himself with too much ground to make up, and not enough get up and go to do it. This race is begging for a closer, but the early pace looks to be pretty hot here. If he can hold on through the first half, he could be a threat, but he\u2019s going to need his best to do it here.<\/P>
PP 3) Dal House<\/B> Sired by Chester House, Trained by peeps2. Dal House is the most lightly raced entry in this field, making only his sixteenth start, the third of his five year old season. This will be his second stakes start and he is looking for his first victory at this level. Over the course of his last ten, he sports a 3-1-2-2-0 record, with one 100+ run. He comes of a six length victory in an A2s run at this distance in New Jersey in his last outing. He\u2019s never raced on dirt in his career, and with ten top three finishes in fifteen starts, his trainer has had no reason to move him. He has won both of his previous starts at this distance, and he has seemed to find new life out beyond twelve furlongs. His trainer has been experimenting a bit with his running style. He has run most of his career as a closer, and while his close was quite consistent, he frequently found himself falling short down the stretch. His owner has been starting him faster, and it has paid dividends over his last couple of starts. If he lays off the pace him this one, he could surprise down the stretch on this one. His stamina coupled with an excellent close could put him in one of the top spots here.<\/P>
PP 4) Cahill\u2019s Gold<\/B> Sired by Cahill Road, Trained by cgk2. Cahill\u2019s Gold is a four year old colt making his twenty fourth career start in this race. He has two stakes wins to his credit. In his last ten starts he has scored a 2-1-2-1-1 no 100+ runs. He loped to a six and a quarter length victory in an Arkansas stakes in his last outing, going wire to wire against a slow pace. He tried dirt once, but didn\u2019t seems to particularly care for it, much preferring the softer cushion of the grass. His last start, at sixteen furlongs, was his longest out to date, and while he didn\u2019t break any speed records, he looked quite comfortable wiring the field. He tends to start in a stalker\u2019s pace, but his last two victories have both been gate to wire efforts. He is tough to beat when the race pace is relatively leisurely. He won\u2019t enjoy that luxury here, and his fate should be sealed by the forst call in this one. If he is still holding a piece of the lead, he has a chance, but if he is burned by the early pace, this could be a long race for him, no pun intended.<\/P>
PP 5) Sino Louis Song<\/B> Sired by Unbridled\u2019s Song, Trained by sinostar. Sino Louis Song is a five year old horse, making his thirty second career start. He is seeking his first stakes victory. He enters this one as the oddsmaker\u2019s favorite. He\u2019s galloped to a 2-4-1-1-1 record in his last ten starts, with no 100+ speeds. His last start was an eight furlong A2y in North Carolina, where he bested a full field by a length and a half. He\u2019s tried the dirt, but he always comes home to turf, and the grass has definitely been much better for him. This will be only his third try beyond twelve furlongs, and his best race seems to be in the nine to ten range. He progressively loses speed point the farther he stretches out. He is a deep closer, and his turf close has been excellent. He can make up large distances in the second half, but he should have quite a chunk to make up here. He will need to show more stamina to bring it home in this one.<\/P><\/BODY><\/HTML><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two mile challenge draws five<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":472,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews","category-reviews","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/472"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}